Our Week in the Forest...

We have enjoyed a very autumnal-feeling week here in the forest. In Paradise, the children noticed how the leaves were starting to change colour and enjoyed running around trying to find as many different coloured leaves as they could. The children discovered that we had “lots of yellow leaves” in Paradise and “no conkers”. However, the educators have been doing a little gathering of their own and Sam brought in a big bag full of different types of pinecones, conkers, and other natural treasures for the children to inspect and sort into categories based on shape and size.

Over in Wimbledon, the children kept requesting long adventure walks in the morning which everyone thoroughly enjoyed. In the brisk sunny morning, walking to the Big Hill was hard to resist as it warmed everyone up and prepped them for the day. There was a big log at the bottom of the hill and the children wanted to see how fast it would take to roll all the way down. With that in mind, together they pushed it up the hill, made sure all their friends were safe and out of the way at the bottom, and gave it a big push on the count of three. This activity kept the children engaged for quite some time and made us all feel like children again.

Last week we decided to start having one day each week where we have a ‘no resource’ day. With no spades to dig with and no ropes to climb, the children were encouraged to be more creative with the abundance of natural resources we are lucky to have at our sites. Thursday was our ‘no resources’ day this week and we found that the children engaged in conversation with each other so much more than usual. There was a plethora of imaginative play happening in every corner of the forest which ignited a desire within the children to write down some stories! So right before our afternoon snack, they all participated in acting out the stories and bringing the words to life.

Whether you’re excited about the cooler mornings or wishing summer would never end, there’s no denying that being out in the forest this time of year is absolutely stunning. We’re excited to explore the changing-of-the-seasons more with the children and hope that you all enjoy explorations of your own this weekend. Until next week!